My father remembered his dad talking about the CCC, but he didn’t know any details. In 1993, I wrote to the National Personnel Records Center to find out. I learned that my grandfather did indeed serve with the CCC…in a manner of speaking.

On April 7, 1933, James Pointkouski applied with the U.S. Department of Labor for “Emergency Conservation Work”, another name for the CCC, just weeks after President Roosevelt began the program. His application states that he was born in Philadelphia on July 6, 1910. His occupation is “chaueffuer” [sic], but he had been unemployed since October, 1932. He lists his education as 1 year at Northeast H.S. and 1 year evening at Central H.S. He lists his parents, John and Rose, as recipients of his $25 allotment each month and their address.

The very next day, Grandpop signed his “Oath of Enrollment” at Fort Hoyle, Maryland. In the oath, he swears and affirms “to remain in the Civilian Conservation Corps for six months … obey those in authority and observe all the rules and regulations…” The oath also relieves the government of responsibility if he suffers injury while working, and he understands that he won’t get any allowance when he is released from camp other than transportation home.

My grandfather’s physical examination record tells me that he was 5’9″ and 150 pounds with blue eyes, brown hair, and a fair complexion. He has good hearing, but his eyesight wasn’t that great – 20/50 in one eye and he suffered from strabismus, or “lazy eye”, in the other. I didn’t remember that about him as he got older, but the lazy eye is apparent in photos of him when he was young. Otherwise, he was quite healthy, which was good news considering that he was only 22 years old. CCC members also had to receive shots for typhoid (3 doses!) and smallpox, all of which are annotated on the form.

Before I discuss the record of his service, fast-forward to a few years after I received these records. I accompanied my father to my grandmother’s house to remove some belongings and prepare the house to be sold. My grandfather was long deceased, and my grandmother was either in a nursing home or had just died (I can’t remember when the house was sold since she spent several years in a home). I found very few photos or papers of genealogical interest in my grandmother’s belongings. But, one of the few things I found was a handwritten note from my grandfather to my grandmother. It is dated April 22, 1933 – while he was serving in the CCC!

My grandparents were not married until January, 1934, and the note offers some clues to their relationship. It begins:“I didn’t mean it when I told you to forget me…” He goes on to encourage her and cheer her up as if he heard (through her letter?) that she was sad or depressed. He goes on to say (in a run-on but touching sentence), “Do you realize that if I had been working steady last winter the ring I gave you for Xmas would have been an engagement ring so you must know I appreciate a lovely girl, but owing to the way things were (at) home and no work, how could I tell you how I felt toward you.” After cheering her up some more, he adds, presumably in case she didn’t get the ring reference above, “I hope to be more than a friend someday.”

He goes on to talk about “camp”: “Well, our stay in camp is near over, we all have received our 3 shots and I hear we leave for the forests next week. I’m feeling so good and don’t even think of rum, don’t care if I never see another drink. Let’s forget about money. Perk is well able to get by anywhere, I always did. Well, goodbye Marge, I am Your one and only, Jimmy.” In the postscript he asks her to send a snapshot and adds at the end “Love + Lots of Kisses”.

April 22, 1933 letter from James Pointkouski to Margaret Bergmeister

I was amazed later to match the date to the time he was in the CCC. For the first time, I could see the impact that the Great Depression had on my grandparents. It was also interesting to see “Perk” as my grandfather’s likely nickname/alias. His older brother, Joseph, simply dropped the actual surname of “Piontkowski” and used “Perk” for the rest of his life. My grandfather by this time had already adopted the creative alternate spelling of “Pointkouski”, but he must have still referred to himself as Perk as a nickname. What amazes me the most about this note is that my grandmother kept it for so long – to me, this means it was very important to her. Could it be that, because of his note, she realized how much he loved her?

Regarding leaving camp for the forests, I looked back at his enrollment record. From 8 April to 5 May (1933), he was stationed at Fort Hoyle, MD performing “general labor”. His manner of performance was “satisfactory” (the form indicates that the choices are excellent, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory). From 6-8 May, the location changes to Ellenton, PA and his manner of performance changed to “unsatisfactory”! He was discharged from service on 11 May, well short of his six-month service requirement, due to “absence without leave”.

Why did he suddenly leave? Did he miss the rum too much? Or did he miss his girl Marge too much? Was he tired of the physical labor, or did he get an actual job offer for his usual job driving a truck? Neither of his children know the answer. Perhaps he went home to Philadelphia for the weekend and decided to stay. Based on his note, he obviously missed my grandmother quite a bit. By January of the following year, they were married. I’m not sure if he actually did get her that engagement ring or not – the marriage was precipitated by the news that my grandmother was pregnant! She gave birth to a healthy baby boy, named James after his father, in August.

I’ll never know why my grandfather cut short his vow to the CCC, but one thing’s for sure – Perk was well able to get by. He spent the rest of his life employed as a truck driver, raised two children, and lived happily with his girl Marge until his death in 1980. Thanks to my grandmother saving that one small remnant of their past, I know without a doubt that he loved her a lot more than he loved working for the CCC!

5 Responses

Great story: I was in the CCC for six month in 1942. I was in three camps, as they were closing them. I was only 15 years old. I enjoyed the experience of being in the CCC. The money that was sent home helped my family.

Thank you for the sweet, entertaining message. I also would like to find out if my grandfather served. I have just the vaguest of memories that maybe he did, but no idea where. Hopefully those records will be transcribed & accessible online in the near future. Every time I’m at a State Park with CCC buildings, I look around & wonder if he was there & the hardships they must have had.

My sister wrote for my Pop Pops’ CCC records and he, too had a second rating of unsatisfactory with 2 days AWOL! He started with training at FT Meade, MD then had been working in forestry in Pennsylvania for 2 months before being hospitalized for 5 weeks at Walter Reed in DC! I am wondering what on earth he did in his 2 days AWOL because just a few days upon returning from that absence he landed in the hospital on the government’s dime. He was missing part of a finger and always told tall tales about it, so this leaves me wondering if that is when the accident occurred.